Nasim Ahmed

Human wisdom has not yet invented a better system of governance and a more peaceful method of transfer of power than democracy. The theoretical underpinnings of democracy are well known: regular elections, voters' right to choose and remove their rulers, an executive answerable to parliament and the people's participation in running the government through their elected representatives. But these are just the outer trappings of democracy. What distinguishes democracy from other forms of government is its substance: a system of governance designed to secure the maximum good of the maximum number.

But, in practice, democracy can be reduced to a mere ritual. A system may have all the outer trappings of democracy without its substance. This is proved not only by our own experience but by the experience of other countries.

In our democracy, there is an annual ritual of presidential address to parliament which President Asif Zardari performed with lacklustre effect last week in the midst of noisy protests by the opposition. The fact that the president has delivered his fifth address to parliament in the last four years has been hailed by the ruling party as a great achievement of democracy, showing how we have elevated form over substance and reduced democracy to a ritual.

Is democracy only about delivering the annual presidential address to parliament and the government completing four years in office? Or, as PM Gillani frequently claims, about being the longest running prime minister in the country's history? Do the people elect their representatives and rulers only to ensure that they complete their tenure without expecting them to deliver on their campaign promises of caring for their needs and solving their problems? Does democracy mean merely holding elections and the elected representatives going through the motions of attending, and sometimes not attending, the assembly sessions without doing anything substantial to bring a difference in the people's lives?

The refrain about the present democratic dispensation having successfully completed its four years in office sounds incongruous when we juxtapose the claim with its performance during this period. Not surprisingly, President Zardari prefaced his address to the joint session with the usual litany of inherited difficulties in order to explain away the lackluster performance of the government. He sounded unconvincing and hollow when he said that his government has tried to meet the "aspirations of the people" and 'transform the country'. For, under the present dispensation, the daily life of the people has become more miserable, and if it has been transformed it has been transformed for the worse.

The economic data trotted out by President Zardari have no relevance to the people's daily lives, with some of them being outright lies. The prices of 12 most essential items of daily use have trebled and quadrupled in the last four years but he made the astounding claim that inflation has been controlled.
Similarly, his claim about electricity generation sounded hollow in the face of increasing hours of loadshedding which has disrupted normal life in the country and decimated large sections of the national industry.

The moribund state of the economy resulting from power and gas shortages, declining exports and lack of investment belie the claim that the government has brought ''economic stability'' and ''prosperity to our citizens''. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, with the cost of living rising on a daily basis, more and more people have been pushed below the poverty line in the last four years.

Food prices and the costs of petrol, gas and electricity have become unaffordable for an overwhelming majority of the people, but the president had the audacity to say that "we have tried to manage the economy with one primary focus: to ensure that the benefits reach the common man''.
The address of President Zardari was peppered with clichés and ritualistic statements like ''the rule of law has been established and the supremacy of parliament has been assured''. In reality the government has obstinately defied all efforts by the Supreme Court to bring the corrupt to book and ensure the rule of law and constitution in the country. Similarly, despite the claim of the president, parliament has been sidelined and all crucial decisions are taken by a small coterie of loyal party men around him. And as for the prime minister enjoying full authority as a result of the fresh constitutional amendments, the truth is known to all. PM Gillani is merely a nominee of the party head who is the real power behind the throne.

Had the government sincerely tried to set things right, the fifth parliamentary address of President Zardari would have been substantially much better than his first, four years ago. Worse, while President Zardari had not much to show by way of his government’s past achievements, he also failed to outline, in precise terms, his team's future plan of action.

Source: WEEKLY CUTTING EDGE